Snapchat is the most used platform by groomers to target minors

A report from 45 police forces in the UK found that Snapchat is the most common platform for online grooming.

In total, 7,062 cases of grooming were recorded in 2023-2024. Of these, the communication platform was successfully identified in 1,834 cases. And half of them belonged to Snapchat.

The company responded to the news and said it does not tolerate such horrific acts and is already taking a number of security measures.

According to police reports, Snapchat is the most common social media app used by groomers. Although most of the victims are young girls The youngest victim in 2023-2024 was a 5-year-old boy.

The data was obtained by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), which included data from 45 UK police forces.

The report showed that 7,062 Offenses related to sexual intercourse with a child were registered only between 2023-2024 – an 89% growth from 2017 to 2018 and is the largest number ever recorded.

Of these, in only 1,824 cases was the platform used for communication successfully identified half of them belonged to Snapchat.

Users share their terrible experiences

Some users have shared their terrible experiences with Snapchat. Nikki (name changed) was only 8 years old when she was approached by someone on a gaming platform influenced her to be on Snapchat.

“I don’t have to go into detail, but everything you can imagine happened in those conversations – videos, pictures, requests for certain materials from Nikki, etc.,” Nikki’s mother said.

Her mom then created a fake Snapchat account pretending to be her daughter and talked to the man. When the man answered, she reported him to the police.

Another victim was Thomas (name changed), who was only 14 years old when he was first groomed online. He described the first conversation as a casual conversation, and the person seemed to be the most supportive person he had ever met.

But then, slowly after a month, the criminal tried pressuring him to convince him that he is gay. Thomas was also forced to send pictures, which he did, but reluctantly. And when he didn’t want to send more, the attacker threatened to send his photos to everyone.

It took a lot of courage, but Thomas finally did managed to block it on all social media platforms.

What does Snapchat have to say about it?

The report was acknowledged by the company and she said yes zero tolerance for such horrible activities.

Even now, if they detect such activity or are notified, the company immediately removes all content, disables the groomer’s account, ensures they cannot create a new account, and then reports it to the authorities.

They also have other safeguards to make it difficult for outsiders to communicate with teenagers. In addition, the application has a Family Center where parents can monitor their child’s activities.

What is the main problem?

One of the reasons can be cited by some as the popularity of the platform among children. But Whatsapp and Instagram are also popular among this demographic. However, WhatsApp showed only a small increase in such cases, whereas Instagram actually managed to reduce the number of such cases.

The main problem with Snapchat is its design.

To begin with, everything Snapchat messages disappear by default. The maximum message storage period is 24 hours. This makes it difficult to find incriminating evidence.

Even photos and videos disappear. So even if a groomer sends inappropriate images to a minor, it cannot be proven.

The second question is that Snapchat shows your location to everyone. Not just your state or city, but you can actually narrow down to your almost exact location. This makes it easier for online groomers to target their victims in real life or collect content for blackmail.

However, Snapchat has addressed this concern with a feature called “simplified location access,” which allows users to choose which friends can see their location.

Now, since these features are inherent to the platform, the company may not be able to change the entire design. However, Snapchat needs it implement more security protocols to ensure the protection of adolescents on the Internet.

And Snapchat seems to be taking the social media platform seriously introduced some features to keep minors safe on the platform at the end of June this year:

Minors will not be able to send or receive friend requests from people who do not have mutual friends with.

Snapchat will warn minors about users who have been reported or blocked by other users.

As soon as the user is blocked, he will do so cannot send friend requests again from different accounts created on the same device.

These features definitely help minors stay safe on the platform. However, predators are always looking for new ways to trap their victims, so both Snapchat and parents need to be vigilant.